Stag and Doe
by ShunnedChipmunk
Summary: An unexpected bag-flinging leads to something Lily never would have thought possible...but James might've pondered it a couple of times. Marauder Era, LE/JP, new chapters added often.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **No duh, I'm not JK. So buzz off. No, wait! I'm just joking...review?

New chapters very soon. hehehe.

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**Stag and Doe**

"Hey, Mudblood, fetch!"

Lily watched, seething, as that pitiful-excuse-of-a-human Slytherin, Nott, flung her bag a couple hundred yards, only to land right inside the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. The scumbag, being larger than anyone would have thought possible for a seventh year, was very capable of throwing said bag across said distance; and Lily, having underestimated the conniving evil of the Slytherins, had foolishly left her bag unattended by a tree during Care of Magical Creatures for the lesson.

Nott and the rest of the Slytherin dunces headed off toward the castle doubled over with laughter, while Lily fumed. How was she supposed to get her stuff now?

"You know, if I could reach any of their fat heads, I'd make good use of this book and—"

"Mary, you know we can't stoop to their level," said Lily, still furious, yet beginning to grasp her temper before it slipped.

"Of course, because stooping isn't gonna do us any—"

"Go ahead and go to dinner, I'll be there soon."

After a couple minutes, Lily had managed to persuade Mary to hurry off to the Great Hall. Now that her best friend was out of the way, she just needed a way to get her bag without being noticed by the Professor. Using quick thinking, she put into action the first thing to pop into her mind.

"Er—Professor?"

The squat old wizard looked around from re-bandaging his still-healing hands from last week's lesson on bowtruckles. "Yes?"

"I think a niffler got away," Lily said, pointing around to the gamekeeper's hut at the little creature scurrying off around it, in pursuit of a shiny bracelet thrown stealthily by Lily barely thirty seconds before.

"Oh dear!" The wizard wheezed, waddling off after the niffler as fast as his bandy legs would carry him.

Lily took advantage of this moment and ran toward the place where her bag had been hurled.

* * *

Prongs darted through the forest at top-speed, being heartily chased by the enthusiastic animal form of Padfoot, the much smaller yet somehow very quick rat-form of Wormtail, and the stumbling human-Moony. They had been enjoying the past hour in the Forbidden Forest thanks to a cancelled lesson and the very convincing pout given to Remus, courteous of Sirius. As the stag-form of Prongs came to an abrupt halt a hundred feet from the edge of the Forest, Padfoot swiftly took advantage of this and tackled the stag to the ground, landing in a heap of hooves and paws. Padfoot gave a triumphant bark and leapt to the side, as to allow the tackled a moment to rest. As Prongs brought himself up from the leaf-pile he had landed in, the two were quickly joined by Wormtail and a panting Moony, who stopped, hunched over, and clutched at a stitch in his side, panting.

"Ser—ious—ly . . .that's—the last—time . . ." coughed Moony, still recovering from the chase.

Padfoot barked happily and made to jump on Moony, but was promptly landed on by a revenge-driven Prongs.

Through the trees, groups of their fellow seventh-year Gryffindors, and not-so-fellow seventh-year Slytherins were making their way back up towards the castle from Care of Magical Creatures. Mid-tackle, a shout was heard from that direction and a whirring sound split the trees as a large _thump_ signaled something landing a yard away from the wrestling Animagi. The four all looked up at the unexpected projectile and stood still, horror-struck for a moment. Padfoot disentangled himself from the stag and slowly padded over to the offending lump. He took a few cautious sniffs, transformed into Sirius, and said simply, "Bag."

Upon realizing that they had not been discovered, and had simply had something randomly chucked at them, the now completely human Marauders joined Sirius around the bag. James picked up the strap, wiped the snagging leaves off it, and undid the catch, pulling a paper out. His eyes scanned the parchment, and slowly but surely, James' face broke into an unmistakable grin of the utmost mischievousness. "Guess," he said, the grin growing wider every second.

"Snivellus?" Sirius suggested hopefully.

"Better," said the now completely-ecstatic-looking James.

"Huh?" said Peter, looking very dumb. Sirius and Remus seemed to catch on though, because Sirius' grin became almost as wide as James', and Remus' face obtained a look of sudden seriousness.

"_No_," Remus warned.

James simply turned the grin in his direction and said, "Oh yes."

Sirius butted in, "Mate, you've gotta use this! Think of the possibilities—"

"Dearest Padfoot, my mind is already there. But I plan on using a very different approach this time," added James, looking completely diabolical. "Now clear off, you three, I've got a plan to put into action."

"You mean we don't get to watch you fail miserably in the ever-lasting quest for Evans?" said Sirius, administering the return of his never-failing pout. This time, the pout would have to be ignored.

Remus was desperate to make the obviously-sensible decision clear. "James, you know I don't approve of you using your form to—"

"Oh calm down, _calm down_. Just a little raw, stag muscle and buff-ness on display for my dear Lilypad. Now seriously, she's bound to get here any moment. _Clear. Off._"

Sirius, obviously disappointed, and Peter, obviously having no clue what they were talking about, were rounded up by a very disapproving but powerless Remus, and led through the darkening trees toward the castle for dinner.

James watched them leave, then when their footsteps disappeared, turned back towards the direction from which the bag had been flung. He stuffed the parchment back into the bag, fastened the catch, covered it with a few leaves next to a tree stump on the ground, backed off behind a tree and transformed, all the while plotting what he dearly hoped would lead to success.

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A/N: I'm guaranteeing a new chapter amazingly soon! Like, super-fast! SRSLY. R&R, please! I'd like to know what you think.

Now I'm off to plot evil things...mwahahaha...


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Of course, I am not JK Rowling, and no, I am not using Polyjuice potion to impersonate her and possibly write Draco/Harry fanfiction for publishing. Because of course I would never do that.

**Chapter Two** (mwahaha)

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James waited in silence. He could not remember being this nervous ever, not even at his first Quidditch match, but even then he had not been extremely nervous like he was now. Perhaps it was because no one but the Marauders had seen him in his Animagus form, but then again maybe it was just because the woman he was obsessed with would soon be within a few yards of him. Not just that she would be near him though, but she would be seeing him when he was not the "arrogant toerag", as she liked to call him. What he would give for a chance with her...

As lovely as that train of thought was, it was soon interrupted by frantic footsteps. Lily was just coming into view now (_"Alone, phew!" _He thought.) and she seemed to be very worried about finding her bag. "_Rule-follower_," he thought, smiling to himself, though he was not quite sure stags could smile. Only then did he realize with a jolt that her bag was not where he had it had landed, and she seemed to notice this too. "_Time to move_," he thought, his heart hammering away, barely confined by his ribs.

He took a step out from behind the massive tree into the dwindling light of the sun that had managed to break through the canopy of trees above. She took notice immediately, and she spun around so fast that he himself was surprised. He quickly straightened, trying to look as friendly and impressive as possible, at the same time of course.

She seemed awestruck, if nothing else. Hopefully he didn't look stupid. But she seemed thoroughly impressed by his sudden appearance, and he gave himself a mental pat on the back.

Then her eyes did a double-take and he would have flushed deeply had he been human. He had only been stared at so intensely and admiringly by the not-so-small fan club of girls that was forever staring at him and following him. Then he realized that he was in fact standing in an impressive pose, and perhaps he did not look as stupid as he might've thought.

Deciding now was the time to move, he went for the "Gentleman" approach. In what he very desperately hoped were graceful movements, he bowed deeply to her, moved to her bag, picked it up with an antler, and offered it with a lowered head. Despite his nerves, she seemed worse than he did. Once again, he would have blushed eternally had he been human. She was looking at him like he was the greatest person—er, creature—to exist, and he couldn't help but feel encouraged. Instead of doing something impressive though, he waited for her to take her bag, as that was kind of in the way.

After what seemed an eternity to him, which in reality was most likely around twenty seconds, she slowly grasped the bag strap, and he lowered his antlers to go along with the "Gentleman" thing. Of course, he would always try to be a gentleman for Lily; he was no player (well...people thought so when it came to anyone but Lily, but he could never stop thinking about her long enough) and was always so bewitched by her, that he had often wondered if she had once slipped him a love potion (what with her being extraordinary at potions) but then realized, with a depressing jolt back to reality, her complete disgust with him. If she ended up married to someone else, he doubted he could ever look at another woman the same. "_So if the Potter bloodline dies out, it's her fault_," he thought.

Before he knew what he was doing, he had moved closer and lowered his head again, wanting to feel less tower-like over her. She reached out her pale arm and gently stroked from his nose to his forehead. Being rather in shock that she had just touched him willingly, he let her do this a few more times. After all, it wasn't every day that Lily Evans willfully made contact with James Potter. Sadly though, he remembered that he was not himself. Lily would never have done this had she known who he was. She had lowered her hand now and simply stared at him, transfixed. He stared back, wanting this to last forever, but felt a pang of hurt he had never felt before; he now realized that his silly fantasies would never happen. "_You're a fool_," he thought. "_You're a sad miserable fool who will never deserve the woman who stands in front of you, give up..._"

But he could not bring himself to give up. Staring into her shockingly green eyes, he felt a connection with her, and knew he needed her if he ever wanted to be happy. And, feeling himself smiling, he backed up, bowed, and galloped away into the forest before he could accidentally will himself to change to his human form out of sheer stupidity.

* * *

Lily rushed into the Forest, frantically searching for any sign of her bag. Hopefully that niffler would keep him going for a while, she _had_ chucked that bracelet pretty far...

She reached the spot where she had seen it land, but was surprised to find that her bag was not there. Feeling aggravated, she was about to begin panicking and going into hysteria at the trouble she would be in when she spotted it a couple yards over, covered with a few stray leaves and next to an old tree stump. Making her way over to it though, she heard a rustle in the trees to her left and turned instinctively towards the suspicious noise. What she saw took her breath away.

From behind an enormous old tree stepped the most beautiful stag she had ever seen. Granted, she had only seen a couple does scampering away into some woods on a camping trip a few years back, but still. His coat contained varying shades of brown, from near-white to brown so dark and rich it seemed almost black. His antlers were vast and regal-looking, and his legs slender and graceful yet muscular. His chest stuck out in what she thought was well-deserved pride; but the face caught her off-guard. He did not appear to want to intimidate her. Instead, he looked very curious, and his great, wide hazel eyes rested on her green ones.

Out of shock, she could not move. She did not need to though; the creature stooped its head exceptionally low in a bow, and moved forward ever-so-gracefully. He tipped his head and brought the 

strap of her bag onto one of those gigantic antlers, then glided over to her and bowed to let her retrieve it. She was still not able to move, unfortunately. Certainly, stags were thought to be impressive animals, but no one had ever bothered to mention just exactly how majestic they were. Lily was just about to wonder why there was a deer in the Forbidden Forest, of all places, when she remembered him standing there, still with her bag. Her hand reached forward to grasp the bag, did so, and his head moved down as to save her the effort of lifting it off the antler. She shouldered the bag, but realized she had no desire to leave now.

The graceful stag stepped toward her, now close enough for her to pet him if she wanted to. _"'Pet' isn't a good word," _she thought. _"This animal is obviously no pet. Now I know why I've never seen one before; human interaction must have done some serious damage..."_

She then realized, once again, that she had been lost in her thinking for a tad too long. His eyes would have been a good one to two feet above hers, but his head was lowered so the difference was only about half a foot. He extended his neck toward her, as though willing her to make contact. Feeling like she was coming out of a daze, she reached out and gently stroked a line from right above his nose to the base of the antlers. He was surprisingly soft; so soft in fact, that she did this a few more times without realizing it. After lowering her hand, she noticed his eyes again. This time, they seemed to be searching her, and she couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable. There was something lingering and strange and breath-taking about his gaze, but she couldn't look away. Before she knew what was happening, he had backed up, bowed remarkably low, and turned elegantly, galloping off into the depths of the Forbidden Forest. For the slightest second, she could've sworn he had smiled at her.

_"Hm...that was weird," _she thought, rather lamely.

Before she could scold herself for being random, she turned and made for the castle, still thinking of the magnificent stag.

* * *

A/N: More to come, definitely more this weekend. At least one more chapter will be up tomorrow if I can manage it. R&R, please! Thank you!

Also, sorry for the lack of "humour" in this chapter, it was a little hard to fit in what with those two eye-goggling at each other or whatever it's called.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** No, I still somehow have not morphed into JK overnight. I assure you, I was very disappointed.

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**Chapter 3**

Lily tromped up the steps into the Entrance Hall, and turned through the doors that led to the Great Hall. Of course, she was a few minutes late, but luckily only a couple heads turned her direction as she made her way to the Gryffindor table. Still deep in thought, she absentmindedly pulled a few random platters toward her and shoveled some of the contents onto her plate.

"Er—Lily?"

This brought Lily to her senses. Just in time, too, because it seems that her plate had on it colliding piles of something orange and gooey, corn, and raisin biscuits.

"Oh. . .um—Sorry Mary, just a bit out of it."

"You're not the only one," Mary leaned over to whisper in Lily's ear, and as unnoticeably as possible, pointed to the far end of the table.

Lily turned her head towards where Mary had pointed, only to see the Marauders chucking mashed potatoes at each other. What was strange though was that Black and Pettigrew were the only ones committing the chucking. Of course Remus rarely joined in, but the fourth Marauder was what confused her. James Potter, bane of her existence, was sitting next to Black, across from Remus. His dark hair even more untidy than usual, along with the fact that he was obviously not keen to join in with the food-throwing, was very—um, not normal. What's more, he looked. . .could it be true? James Potter, said bane of her said existence, be sad? No. . .it couldn't be.

But nonetheless, there he sat, sullen and miserable-looking. He had his head down, barely four inches from his plate, and was leaning on an elbow while barely touching his food. As though sensing her looking at him (she was quite sure he had some sort of sixth sense when it came to her), he looked up and met her eyes immediately. This caught her off-guard—the second time that had happened today. His eyes were a tad shocking, to say the least, and she only then noticed that he was out of breath. Tearing her eyes away from his, she decided to leave him to his sulking and not tell him off, for possibly the first time in her life.

"You know, I'm really tired, and I had a big lunch," said Lily, thinking that at least the tired part was true. "I'm gonna go finish that essay for Professor McGonagall and head to bed."

"All right, meet you there in a bit," said Mary, not suspecting her normally completely-truthful friend of what Lily considered the shameful act of lying.

Lily rose from the bench and gathered her things, all the while becoming more and more lost in her thoughts. As she reached the doors out of the Great Hall, she chanced one more look at the unusually sullen Marauder. To her surprise, he was still looking at her, with a slightly puzzled look on his face and a glint of curiosity twinkling in his eyes. Before she could allow herself to stare any longer (she had probably only looked at him for about two seconds, despite), she turned and rushed quickly out to the Entrance Hall, and began the trek to the Gryffindor towers.

Walking along, she continued to think. That look had seemed slightly familiar, but she was positive he had never looked at her like that before.

"_What am I thinking?_" she wondered, now startled with her own thoughts. "_That boy doesn't deserve your thoughts; he's a nasty, arrogant git who will stop at nothing to show off. Of course he has the right to be sad, everyone is sad sometimes, he's only human—_"

But this startled her the most. Human? James Potter? Surely not. But yet, even though she had always considered him incapable of any non-arrogant emotion, there he had been, looking more miserable than she would have ever known possible. Still unable to control her rambling brain, she hurriedly gave the Fat Lady the password and took her books up to the seventh-year girls' dormitory, so she could at least finish her essay in peace.

* * *

James emerged quietly, human, from the forest, and quickly rushed through the Front doors just as Lily was about to come around the trees. Unable to think of anything but not being caught, he practically ran (he had been running for the past minute anyways) to the Great Hall, stopping only at the far end of the Gryffindor table next to the rest of the Marauders to rest. He sunk into a seat next to Sirius and dodged a stray chunk of mashed potato that had flown from Peter's spoon.

"Tell us, mate, come on! What happened? Get shown up as a deer?" Sirius asked excitedly as he returned fire on Pettigrew.

"Nothing happened, and I'm hungry. So shut it." James threw some peas onto his plate and fell into a trance as he began to pick at them. Whatever thoughts Sirius had about his best friend telling him to shut up were quickly drowned out as he was hit full-on in the face with a large glob of potato. Using a quick cleaning charm, Sirius turned towards the offender and resumed battle.

What had he been thinking? She would show up, be amazed by him, he would turn into a human, and sweep her away? No, of course not. He had learned not to expect very much when it came to any attempt at impressing Lily Evans. But yet, he had definitely gotten a reaction out of her, even if she _didn't_ know it was him, which he was sure she didn't. He was just about to expand on this thought when he sensed he was being watched. Somehow, he didn't know how (he was quite sure he had a sixth sense when it came to Lily), he knew who it was, and suddenly lifted his head to the direction where her best friend had sat.

His eyes met hers, and it felt as though a hot iron had just branded his chest. As usual, his stomach became incapable of consuming anything so he made a mental note to give that up for the moment. In the couple of seconds their eyes locked, Lily's face gained a slightly surprised expression. He himself was bit surprised at not even noticing that she had walked in. But soon, too soon for his liking, she ripped her eyes away from his and said something to her friend, then gathered her things and made for the doors to the Entrance Hall. After seeing a very odd combination of things on her plate, James' eyes followed her with extreme interest as she left the Great Hall. Before yanking open the door though, her brilliant green eyes locked with his again, and he couldn't help but not look away. Once again, too soon, she broke the stare and swept out of the Hall and out into the Castle.

When the other three Marauders had finished eating (waging war is more like it), they all scooped up their bags and made for the Gryffindor towers. Lily's friend, Mary, had been throwing him odd looks all dinner, and he was glad to get away from her. As they stepped into the common room, James noticed that Lily was not there. And, still feeling slightly depressed but with a little hope, decided that perhaps he should continue with his excellent plan.

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A/N: Tell me what you think! I'm not so positive I'll be able to stick to the Harry Potter story as it's told much longer...perhaps just make it so Harry never found out? Been thinking about it since I started Chapter 1! mwahahaha...R&R, please! Thanks for reading, and for those who have already reviewed!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: I can assure you that I am not JK, and do not own Harry Potter, or in this case, James, Lily, or any of those other people. I can also offer proof that I am not her, but that would take too long, and I just wanna write some fanfiction. Sheesh.

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**Chapter 4**

She was walking down a worn path, lined with trees, and it seemed to be autumn. She was stopping; there was a path to her left. She didn't want to go down that path, but a voice in the back of her mind said, "_Go, Lily . . . . . go . . ._"

There was something already down that path. She couldn't see it without taking a few steps down the direction she was so set on not travelling. She didn't have a choice, her feet were moving, she couldn't stop them. One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, all the while the leaves crunching beneath her feet. The something on the path was becoming clearer. . .but what was it?

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

An animal?

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

It looked powerful, almost regal. Could it be—?

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

She could see antlers. So that's what it was, the stag!

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

She could see its eyes now. They were staring intently at her, asking for help. But it was changing . . .the antlers were shrinking, everything was shrinking. . .

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

Now it looked like a human, but the eyes were still fixed on her. Everything but the eyes was blurry. She was sure she knew the person; she had to know that person. Who was it? The eyes looked so familiar. . .

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

She racked her brain for anything, anyone who it could be. She didn't know how, but she knew that this person was real. She knew this person. She had to know this person. She just _had _to know this per—

**_WHAM._**

Lily sat bolt upright, looking around for what had caused the racket. It took her a second to realize that she had been asleep. Apparently the rest of her roommates were very sound sleepers, because no one else seemed to notice the noise. She scanned the room, and saw that a book had landed solidly on the floor next to Alice's nightstand, having fallen from Alice's hand after studying, who apparently now was so soundly asleep she hadn't any idea there had been a noise.

Now knowing what had initiated such a sound, Lily calmed herself. After all, it is rather startling to be awoken like that. It took her a few more seconds of thinking to realize that she had been dreaming. Dreaming about that stag . . . argh! She had been so close to seeing who it was!

Now thoroughly frustrated, Lily hopped off her bed and dressed while the sun began its ascent. She then tip-toed across the dormitory, as to not wake anyone (though she was doubtful they would wake if a muggle marching band had walked through), and bounded down the steps to the common room. Seeing no one there yet, the most likely reason of it being Saturday, she made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Upon entering the Great Hall, Lily noticed with some surprise that besides a few third-years around the middle of the Ravenclaw table, the only other person in the room (apart from some of the staff and herself) was James Potter. He seemed to have just sat down, because he was pulling a tray of toast towards his empty plate. Reluctant to sit anywhere near him, she took a seat a good distance away from him. Before she could begin eating however, she was disrupted.

"I'm not poisonous, Evans."

She looked up from a platter of crumpets and saw Potter looking at her.

"Join me?" he asked, a tiny bit eagerly.

She sighed. "Fine. But just this once."

She dragged herself from her seat so that she was sitting directly across from him. He smiled at her and said, "Can't resist, can you?"

"You are such a prat," she said sternly, though deep down she knew it was only half-hearted. The memory of him yesterday, looking so sad, had put a bit of a damper on her hatred of him.

"You'll see soon enough," he replied with a smug look, downing a slice of his toast.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, determined not to sound too interested in what she was sure could only lead to a swift return of his already over-inflated ego.

"Well, you haven't exactly given me a chance to show you much of my nice side, now have you?" he said, buttering a second piece of toast.

"Didn't know you had one, Potter."

"I can assure you I do, _Evans_."

She fixed him with an untrusting glare. "If this supposedly existing 'nice side' is within you somehow, then what is your excuse for never having shown it?"

"Been waiting. Want you to see it first," he said with a wink, now reaching for the strawberry jam.

"Go on, then." Lily was most certainly not convinced of the existence of this "nice side", but was having trouble concealing her curiosity.

James set the jam down beside his plate and looked at her pointedly. "Yes ma'am," he said with a sarcastic grin. "What would you like for breakfast, milady? Anything I can get for you, I'd be more than happy to spare you the reach," he said, waving his arms as if showcasing the variety of platters before them.

"I am perfectly capable of reaching my own food, thanks," she said stubbornly, grabbing some toast off the tray between them.

"As you wish, dear," he said, trying and failing to suppress a smile.

Lily very nearly choked on her toast. "_What_ did you call me?" she said, after recovering.

Lily had more than one reason to be shocked by this. Of course, there was the fact that James Potter had just called her "dear" when she wished nothing more to do with him than get through breakfast. Then, there was her secret. Nobody knew except herself, not even her two closest friends, Mary and Alice. There remained the fact that she, Lily Evans, was an unregistered Animagus. Despite being near-rubbish at Transfiguration, only barely scraping an E for Exceeds Expectations (which was her lowest grade. A/N: Can you tell she's smart? haha), she had been reading in the library one day in her second-year and had come across a book telling of Animagi. She was immediately entranced by the idea, but the book did not tell how to become one. So, in what was the biggest of rule-breaking she had ever committed, she had asked permission for a book that had been mentioned in Transfiguration class but was in the Restricted Section, feigned an excuse of wanting to know more about the subject, and followed the precise directions successfully. She had only ever transformed once, but was positive it was still effective on her. It had been enough of a feat to even be successful, being terrible at Transfiguration and all, but she had not had a single chance since then to fully appreciate being an Animagus. The form she took when she transformed was something that she absolutely adored, but it might've been because deep inside it was her nature; she was a doe. This brings us back to her shock at being called "dear", which she had very nearly mistaken for "deer".

"Dear, of course," he said, no longer making any attempt whatsoever to hide the smile. "You know, like an endearment? I can continue if you like. Honey, sweetie, muffin, Sugarbumpki—"

"_All right!_" Lily said, exasperated. "You can stop any time now, you know. I suspect your Quidditch 'fame' has gone to your head like usual, expecting anything that breathes to be honored by your affections. I, for one, loathe your arrogance."

James, a bit taken aback by her outburst, simply frowned. Then, beaming at having thought of a good way to reply, said, "Of course, sweetie, I shall be less arrogant from now on."

Lily huffed. "I give up," she said resignedly.

James looked over-the-top encouraged. "So you'll go out with me?"

"No."

"Fine then, honey, but _I, _for one, will _never ever ever_ give up." And, returning to his toast, smiled with a gleam of determination.

Sighing yet again out of half-frustration, half-humor, Lily said, "I don't doubt it."

* * *

A/N: James' POV next chapter! This one's gotten a bit long, you think? Plus I have a ton of work to finish . . .

So, I decided to lead away from the "real" story of Lily and James, whatever that may be. Let me know what you think of Lily being an Animagus! R&R, please, and I shall keep writing! (I 

doubt I need encouragement, as a new chapter I guarantee will be up within a couple days, but do so anyways!)


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** You know, it's a bit of a disappointment to keep having to bring myself back to earth long enough to type that I don't own any of this stuff.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

He was stopped on a path, looking around. Disguised as Prongs, he couldn't find where he was supposed to go to get out of here. Just as he was about to head off in another direction, something at the very end of the path emerged. He didn't know how (it was probably that sixth sense of his), but he could sense it was Lily. There was a light radiating around her indistinct form, and felt an unearthly force pulling her towards him. As she came nearer she became less and less blurry. He could hear the leaves crunching beneath her feet, could see the dark red hair framing her face, and the bright emerald eyes shining, and a voice in the back of his mind whispered, "_Show her . . . she needs to know . . . show her, James . . ."_

"_Show her what_?" he thought, and then something clicked in his brain. He transformed on the spot, his eyes fixed on the ever-clearer green orbs that stood out like lanterns in the mist. As he stood there waiting for her to come nearer, fully human now, he could feel the light radiating around her. It slowly filled him with happiness the closer she got to him, almost the opposite of what he had read were the effects of a dementor.

Lily was much closer now, but everything except her eyes was very hazy. They were contemplating; what, he did not know. Then he realized perhaps she could not see him well enough to know who he was, and was about to begin taking steps toward her when she vanished. He felt the effect immediately; he was plunged into cold, an air of despair and gloom hung around him. But the scene was slowly dissolving, and he wasn't unhappy to let it go.

He opened his eyes. "_Of course. It was a dream. _(A/N: A rather corny one, at that) _Why'd she have to vanish, though? It would've been nice to see her when she wasn't prone to chuck sharp objects at me . . ._"

Not being in the mood to go back to sleep, James groped in the dark for his glasses. Finally locating them on the edge of his nightstand, he shoved them on his face and leapt to the floor. Even though it was Saturday, he supposed getting up early couldn't hurt. He would actually appreciate some alone time to contemplate all this random Lily stuff that kept hurtling through his brain faster than he could understand it. And besides, if he tried to wake any of the Marauders, especially Sirius, he would most likely receive an unconscious wack to the head.

After he had dressed, James trudged down to the common room, and toward the opening that led out to the rest of the castle. The light just now beginning to stream in from the window, he stepped out of the opening and proceeded to the Great Hall.

He pulled a tray of toast toward him and was about to begin promptly shoveling it into his mouth when he noticed Lily. She had just sat down a good far distance away from him, and they being the only people at the Gryffindor table, he felt this greatly unnecessary.

"I'm not poisonous, Evans."

She looked up from a platter of crumpets straight at him.

"Join me?" he asked, hoping against all hope that she wouldn't say no to even this simple request.

She was apparently not in the mood to argue, because she simply sighed and said, "Fine. But just this once."

James, feeling greatly encouraged, watched her drag herself to the seat directly across from him. He put on his best smile and said, "Can't resist, can you?"

"You are such a prat," she replied, though this was not convincing enough to fool James.

"You'll see soon enough," he replied before finishing off a piece of toast, knowing just how just how curious this statement would make her. Oh, how he loved dangling the bait. Of course, he was right in this assumption.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, but she let the tiniest hint of wanting to know slip into her tone. He would be only too happy to oblige.

"Well, you haven't exactly given me a chance to show you much of my nice side, now have you?" he said while preparing some more toast. Her next retort was only to be expected.

"Didn't know you had one, Potter." He snickered inwardly at this.

"I can assure you I do, _Evans_."

She looked at him as though deciding whether to continue with this or drop it and keep her curiosity to herself. She was too impatient to deal with the latter, he knew.

She glared at him. "If this supposedly existing 'nice side' is within you somehow, then what is your excuse for never having shown it?"

"Been waiting. Want you to see it first," he said, winking, and reached for the strawberry jam.

"Go on, then." He felt as though he had just been handed a golden ticket, but knew better than to think he had made any real achievement. So, he set down the jam and put forth the most gentlemanly thing he could think of: service to the lady herself.

"Yes ma'am," he said, grinning all the while. "What would you like for breakfast, milady? Anything I can get for you, I'd be more than happy to spare you the reach." He waved his arms extravagantly at the platters. As with before, her reply was to be expected.

"I am perfectly capable of reaching my own food, thanks," she said while grabbing a piece of toast off the tray in front of him. He loved how stubborn she was.

"As you wish, dear," he spoke as he realized that suppressing his struggling smile was just an additional complication.

She promptly began almost-choking at this. His smile grew wider. "_She knows she wants it, she's just too stubborn to admit it_," his brain thought with satisfaction.

"_What_ did you call me?" she said, having barely recovered. He had been waiting to unleash these words on her for weeks.

"Dear, of course," he could feel his smile and knew it had to be affecting her. "You know, like an endearment? I can continue if you like. Honey, sweetie, muffin, Sugarbumpki—"

"_All right!_" she almost-shouted. Her next words took a bit of time to process. "You can stop any time now, you know. I suspect your Quidditch 'fame' has gone to your head like usual, expecting anything that breathes to be honored by your affections. I, for one, loathe your arrogance."

There she had gone, off with the arrogance thing again. He knew she simply used this as an excuse now, because he was quite sure he had matured in the past couple years and was nowhere near as arrogant as he used to be. Realizing he was frowning, he brought the corners of his mouth up again, higher than they had been before the frown. How he would love to see her reaction to his next comment.

"Of course, sweetie, I shall be less arrogant from now on." Hopefully after this she would actually realize her excuses.

She huffed. "I give up," she said, and James felt his heart flutter hopefully.

"So you'll go out with me?"

"No."

"_Darn_," he thought. It wouldn't be that simple. He sure as hell would stick it out.

"Fine then, honey, but _I_, for one, will _never ever ever_ give up." He returned to his toast, knowing she was struggling to think of something to say and smiling just at the thought of having baffled her.

She simply sighed, but he caught the tone that told him she had almost laughed. "I don't doubt it."

"_And of course, she has no reason to doubt it_," he thought to himself with satisfaction.

* * *

A/N: There you go! Another chapter! I'm unsure about the Lily Animagus thing, but it's definitely staying in the story. Yes, cliché, blah blah blah, I know, blah blah, blah, blah, penguin. As it was wisely pointed out, it will be extraordinarily hard to keep this story from going sappy. But no need to worry, my friends! I shall stick it out, just like James! R&R, folks, expect a new chapter soon!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** Only when you force Veritaserum down my throat will you truly know if I am JK or not . . . okay fine I'm not. But I still won't admit it! Wait . . . I just admitted it didn't I? Well SCREW THIS! I shall now be known as . . . er . . . Timmy! Timmy, um—McFarklekins! Yes, Timmy McFarklekins the raving teapot . . . now, please return to this fanfiction, and ignore the fact that the author is a rabid nutter.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Lily was surprised she had gone this long without thinking about it. Hell, it had been two years since she had even _heard_ the term mentioned! That could be due to the fact that they had only studied them back in fifth year (during said Unit she had had to stifle rather a lot of smirks), but whatever. Today, there was opportunity floating in the air, and one overly-optimistic Lily Evans was only too willing to grab it. And besides, she hadn't even gotten the chance to stretch her legs the first time round, which had only been a few minutes. She had been saving the real adventuring for a later time; her instincts had made sure of that. Now those wonderful instincts that usually warned her in advance if, say, the Venomous Tentacula was about to sneak up on her in Herbology, or James Potter was rushing toward her bearing anything akin to sacrificial offerings, were telling her it was time.

Somehow lightened at the thought of both trampling around the forest all day and ridding herself of Potter before he could attempt to ask her out again, Lily hopped the steps onto the grounds two at a time. She was glad to not have any books with her, and even more so that it was early and her friends slept like they had been knocked dead.

Her dark red hair flipped around as she hastily made sure she was alone. After doing so and finding she was indeed alone, her feet tip-toed their way to the Forbidden Forest. If she had gone in here yesterday, then she wouldn't permit herself to feel an ounce of guilt about it now. Besides, she was so randomly happy that it was reminiscent to the time the Marauders had smuggled muggle crack into the Common Room. How they knew about such things, she had no clue.

She ducked a low branch that was obscuring her view of the forest within, and reemerged to see the familiar (yet now much more close up than usual) sight of the Grande Forbidden Forest. Thinking that now was the perfect time, she silently willed herself to transform.

She was shrinking and enlarging, stretching and morphing, all at the same time. Her height stayed about the same, and her face expanded forward as her ears grew and stretched to the sides. Her back grew in the opposite direction of her face, and a furry tail came into existence. Her legs and arms slimmed and rearranged, sprouting dainty, but very solid, onyx hooves. She felt her eyes zoom to opposite sides of her head, growing larger and budding enormous lashes as they went. This all happened in a matter of five seconds.

It was over before she knew it. She stood there, adjusting to the feeling of standing on four legs. Lily looked down at herself and noticed that she was quite larger a doe than she had been in second year. In fact, in second year she had only been a fawn, and the white spots had barely begun to fade. Now though, she was a fully-adult doe, slender and graceful and very capable of extended periods of frolicking. Then she remembered.

The stag.

How could she forget? It had only been yesterday, after all. Perhaps she would meet him again and see where he lived in the Forest, maybe even be introduced to other deer. But would he think she didn't belong? Of course she didn't belong, she wasn't even really a doe! Lily was _not_ ready to be pummeled by those antlers. Okay, fine, that's exaggerating . . . but he could still like, trample her or something, right?

All right, all right, she very much doubted he was the violent sort. Leave those weirdly imaginative, sadistic, being-crushed-by-a-deer things to her strange mood. And so, with her mind on searching for the stag in the Forest, she set off.

* * *

James felt strangely content. He watched as Lily Evans exited the Great Hall, then turned back to his pathetically empty plate. He had not eaten much at all. But it didn't matter, because he wasn't feeling very hungry. In fact, he had just had a thought on how to continue his excellent plan that he now called "The I.H.L.F.I.L.W.M. Plot": short for "The Inconspicuously-Have-Lily-Fall-In-Love-With-Me Plot", of course.

He figured that she was outside, considering she had turned in the direction of outside. So, er—she definitely seemed to be headed in the outside direction. Therefore, James must go outside.

Once James actually _was_ outside, he couldn't find Lily anywhere. He'd tried by the lake, the courtyard, even the Quidditch pitch, but she was nowhere in sight. Making a mental note that this was not stalking, no matter how strangely similar the description of stalking seemed to this, he assumed she'd gone inside and he skipped (very manly-ish) to the Forbidden Forest.

The Marauders were probably all still asleep, due to the fact that it was indeed Saturday and it was also about 6 am. Even Moony, what with his erratic studying habits, usually joined the three of them in not waking until at least midday on weekends. Somehow James was not at all tired, and decided to spend the hours until they awoke on a rare solo run through the Forest.

James had worn away most of his energy about an hour later, having run about in a large circle for a good portion of that time. As idiotic as he had probably looked going round in circles, he really had nothing better to do and should therefore be allowed to do whatever the hell he wanted to, no matter how stupid he appeared while doing so. He had just paused for a breather when he heard it.

Something was making quite a lot of noise in the trees, and it was coming closer. There was rather a lot of leaf-scrunching and branch-rustling going on, but James didn't have much time to either wonder about it or attempt to escape because suddenly, the culprit of said noises was right in front of him.

Quite frankly, he was shocked. His jaw would've dropped straight to the ground, but then he figured perhaps that would be suspicious. The thing making the noise was a doe.

Not just any doe, he had seen a few of them around (they had tried to follow him, but he was too quick). This doe was breath-taking. She stood there looking very shocked (he possibly did too) while they both took in the appearance of the other. She was about the height of most does, if only a bit taller and up to his chin. Her whole body was slender and graceful-looking, and her dark brown coat had a reddish tinge. Her eyes were rather strange, though: large and very green. A deep, emerald green, very similar to—no. She couldn't be an Animagus. It wasn't possible. Despite the startling similarities, James shoved that possibility out of his head because basically he was stubborn and this could ruin his whole plan. Nope—definitely not an Animagus. Although . . . she _was_ very smart, and probably capable of becoming one if she really wanted to. The more he thought about it, the more it really did seem possible. The eyes were exactly the same shade, and he realized that the doe's coat color was very nearly Lily's hair color. He had never seen a doe, or any other human for that matter, with eyes that exact color. This was the point when he realized she was staring at him like he was insane, because as a stag, you typically don't grin like an idiot—which was exactly what he was doing.

He had nothing to lose, though. Except maybe his stag anonymous-ness, but what the hell. If this really was just a normal doe, she might simply scamper off and be emotionally scarred of all stags for the rest of her life. If this was Lily—then she would become mighty suspicious.

He kept the idiotic grin on his face, and began to circle her, to further take in her appearance. She really was unlike any doe he'd ever seen, too beautiful and too much emotion showing (at the moment, shock and a bit of embarrassment). She stayed put, watching him as he surveyed her with his strange, very un-animal-like grin. As he made his way to where his circling had started, she seemed to become suspicious. Several emotions flashed across her face (all very un-deer-like, at that)—surprise, shame, embarrassment, a tiny flicker of anger, and then, all of a sudden, smugness. She matched his grin to a T, and turned to look him full in the face as he stopped right in front of her.

When her face was fully-turned towards him, and he could see her closed-mouthed grin, he decided two things at once. First, does looked very strange smiling, especially when the smile looked slightly evil. Second, this was no deer. This was Lily Evans.

* * *

A/N: Let me know what you think! I've gone a little haywire with the humor bit, my brain needs release from all this exam stuff. Sorry it took so long to get this up but I've had a really busy week. The next chapter won't take so long, I promise! R&R please! If you have ideas let me know!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't not _not_ own Harry Potter . . .

* * *

**Chapter 7**

James sat in his dormitory that night, reflecting.

It had only been this morning that he had found out. Of course, she didn't know he knew about her being an Animagus; he really hoped _she_ hadn't recognized _him_. He was pretty certain that she had recognized that the stag was an Animagus, though. After all, stags don't tend to smile like idiots.

Right after he had realized that the doe was indeed Lily, she must've noticed the big sign saying RECOGNITION that was plastered to his forehead. She had immediately turned on her heels and run for it. That had left him mildly confused. Then he thought it over and realized she was probably afraid of breakin' those good ol' rules. And, to justify that he didn't say anything to her before she ran away, it was due to the fact that it would've come out as a series of grunts, which would not have been very impressive.

The reason James Potter was so certain that Lily Evans had no idea that he was an Animagus (much less the stag) was because she had not dealt him any irregular attention the rest of the day. She had thoroughly ignored everyone, even her friends, at lunch. She kept throwing wary glances over her shoulder at anyone that passed by or attempted to talk to her, and then skipped dinner altogether. The only sign she gave of acknowledging his existence was one, very distinct, glare in his direction when he had _accio_'d the gravy boat from next to her elbow. It was a scary glare.

* * *

Lily sat in her dormitory that night, reflecting.

It had only been this morning that she had found out. It had also only been this morning that _he_ had found out about _her_. There remained only one mystery. _Who_ was the stag?

She was approximately ninety-nine percent certain that the stag she had met twice in the Forest was an Animagus. First of all, it really fit if you thought about it. He kept smiling, and that grin was definitely not the work of a normal stag. If it was, then pigs could fly. Wait . . . she then made a mental note that she now lived in the Wizarding World, and pigs probably _could_ fly. Okay then. If it was, then her last name was . . . er . . . Yak. Yes, Lily Yak. And it wasn't, so there.

Second of all, he looked so familiar! She knew that she had seen those eyes somewhere, but couldn't think who it was to save her life. Whenever she thought about it, her mind somehow wandered to Quidditch . . . which she hated, so that was really weird, so whatever. Yeah.

If one thing was for certain, it was that she was going to find out who it was, if it took her until the end of the year to do it. Which is not very ambitious, but still. She set her plan in motion tomorrow . . . at dawn.

Well, she was tired, so make it around nine. Yeah, much better. Nine it is.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this is such a short chapter, but I wanted to let you know what they're thinking. R&R, please!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** Curse Veritaserum . . . .

* * *

**Chapter 8**

* * *

James awoke to a strange screeching sound in his ear. It took him a moment of insufferable screechy-ness to realize that it was the alarm clock he had set specifically to himself, and specifically to seven o'clock. As he tried to pry the thing out of his ear, the events of yesterday rushed back to him.

_Oh crap_.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Lily found out it was him.

_Except she hates you. And she would never speak to you again. And she would hate you more than normal._

Besides that, all was well. He just had to make sure she didn't see his eyes or anything . . . since when Animagi transformed, their eye color and hair color didn't change. Yes, so if he just kept his eyes cast down (since they were not your normal brown, but a particularly bright shade of hazel), then she would never know. But, he thought, perhaps this was exactly what he needed . . . .

Once the squealing bit of rubber was deactivated and abandoned on his nightstand, and James was fully clothed, he left the dormitory and its three sleeping inhabitants behind. For good measure, he had drawn a particularly French mustache on them all . . . . Oh how he loved it when they realized what had happened later in the day. Got them every time . . .

Anyways, back to James now. He had been hoping desperately that Lily would not be at breakfast and had perhaps slept in with the despair of having her secret known, but nonetheless, she was the first person he saw when he entered the Great Hall. As predicted, she noticed him freakishly fast and would've seen his eyes, but he had been prepared. His eyes were struggling to keep contact with the floor as he moved to a seat directly beside Evans, considering it would be suspicious if he suddenly didn't want to be near her. This thoroughly surprised Lily, and as expected, he received a scathing glare from a particularly greasy Slytherin from across the Hall.

She turned to face him. He kept his eyes down and desperately tried to maneuver his hair to cover them.

"Just because I sat near you yesterday doesn't mean I wanted to make this a regular thing."

James grabbed a piece of toast, his usual breakfast. "Mmph."

"Excuse me?"

"I said, 'Mmph'."

"And so you don't have an answer for what I asked?"

"You didn't ask anything."

"I was implying why you were sitting within arm's distance of me. And for Merlin's sake, why are you glaring at your toast?"

"Wha—oh. It's not glaring. I'm focusing."

She was confused, he noted out of his peripheral vision. "Well just so you know, I would ask you to move, but I simply don't want to be rude. And I do not enjoy your company."

"Sure." He nibbled on the toast a bit, eyes glued to said crispy slice of carbohydrates.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever you want it to mean."

Lily gaped. James had a sudden inspiration: apparently she was more affected by him when he didn't submit to his default mode and become immediately smitten with her. Perhaps _this_ was what would help him . . . .

Acting on inspiration from just now and inspiration from yesterday, he stood up and abandoned the pathetic half-piece of toast. "Sorry, my Love, must go."

Before she could react, say she was most certainly not "_His Love_", or even ask where he was going, he ran out of the Great Hall and to the Forbidden Forest. Even though at the moment she believed the stag thing had nothing to do with him, she would want answers eventually, and he therefore knew she would be making another visit to the Forest as soon as possible. This was his chance to push the plot of this story along . . . . oops, I mean to see Lily again. Yeah, that's it.

* * *

Lily was bemused. Why wouldn't he look at her? And _why_ did he leave so fast? It's not like she missed his desperation to go out with her or anything. Psh.

First things first. Before she could go out to the Forest again, she needed to check something. Lily grabbed a biscuit and left the Great Hall, receiving a very confused look from Snape.

Once in the library, she checked with Madam Pince and pulled an aged book off a back shelf. Lily flipped to the back and scanned until she saw a page with the heading "_Registered Animagi of Britain and Ireland_". Excitement fluttered in her stomach as she inspected the list, but doubt filled her mind as she reached the last name. While _Grons, Martha_ could transform into a goose and _Vondersim, Bilphius _was perfectly capable of transforming into a beaver, there was no one on this list that took the form of a stag. Of course, there was the possibility that this person was unregistered just as Lily was, but that only made her task harder.

Barely twenty minutes after entering the library, Lily stomped out the door and toward the grounds, with a new determination driving her every step.

* * *

A/N: Watcha think? Mwahahaha . . .


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** DAMMIT! You should know I'm not JK by now! GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH—Oh, er, moving on.

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**Chapter 9**

* * *

Lily's determination led her to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Instead of transforming as she reached a safe distance into the Forest, she simply kept on trudging through. She knew the stag would be in here somewhere, wanting answers just as she was; but since he plainly already knew her identity, showing up as a doe seemed pointless. Speaking in English, or any other language not consisting of grunts and whistling noises, was rather difficult while transformed.

She kept on moving, with purpose flooding her veins, but of course you usually tend to have a purpose when walking deeper and deeper into a Forest filled with things that could eat you. I mean, who would do that without a purpose? Psh. Not a half-giant or anything.

Lily reached a clearing that was nearly a kilometer in, and sat down stubbornly on a tree stump. She was prepared to wait as long as it took. Anyways, she was used to waiting for long periods of time outside of her sister's room when Petunia refused to talk to her.

She did not have to wait as long as expected, because it had only been a couple minutes when a rustling in the trees behind her signaled the appearance of the stag. Lily stood up, turned abruptly, and uncrossed her arms. The stag stood before her, as beautiful and graceful as ever. She made a mental note that whoever it was must be bloody gorgeous as a human.

He stepped towards her with a half-cautious, half-"What the hell?" look in his wide hazel eyes. Apparently he had not expected her to be so blunt about this.

"Let me get a couple things straight, alright?" Lily said roughly; she wanted to get to the point. The stag paused for a second, bewildered, then slowly nodded.

She continued. "_I_ know _you're_ an Animagus. _You_ know _I'm_ an Animagus. In the prospect of things, this is entirely unfair. Seeing as you know who I am and I have no idea who you are, I _will_ find out."

The stag continued looking at her like she was partially insane, then cracked a grin.

"Now; will you tell me who you are?"

He paused, considering. His brow furrowed in thought. Then he slowly shook his head.

Lily was frustrated, but knew losing her cool would not help. "Well . . . then can I ask you some simple yes or no questions, nothing too specific, with your promise that you will answer?"

He looked very hesitant.

"Alright, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

He nodded.

"So . . . er—assuming you're a student, are you in my year?"

He nodded as the corners of his mouth slowly turned up into a smile. He's got to be a flirter, this one, she thought.

She couldn't help but smile too, it was rather infectious. "Um . . ." He was making her nervous. It had just occurred to her that she was standing alone in the Forbidden Forest, with a male seventh year, that could possibly be a Slytherin.

"You're not a Slytherin, are you?"

He looked shocked, and quickly shook his head with vigor. _Definite_ no, then. Lily was relieved.

"Okay, good. So then I'm assuming you're a guy . . . which should be obvious. Which it is . . . er . . ."

He grinned at her again. Somehow this was getting familiar . . .

"Hufflepuff?"

His eyes widened, and he shook his head.

"You don't like Hufflepuffs?"

He looked like he was struggling for an answer. Lily smiled, a creepily knowing smile.

"So, you think Hufflepuffs are . . . um . . .what's the word—wimpy?"

He nodded with an almost apologizing look.

"Okay. Ravenclaw?"

He paused. They both knew that this could greatly narrow it down to him either being in her House or not. Slowly he shook his head, looking as if he were condemned.

"Gryffindor, then, is it?"

He took a step back. And nodded.

"You're not leaving yet. I've got more questions, and you owe me for finding this out. Even though it's not technically your fault you found out . . . so—erm, do you have any classes with me?"

He nodded. He looked like he knew this was heading to his certain doom.

She took in his appearance again. His coat was greatly on the very dark side, nearly black, but the space that was left displayed a variety of browns and quite a bit of white; she was so close to remembering who those brilliant eyes belonged to. . . .

"Let me see your eyes." He stepped toward and stopped right in front of her, then gulped audibly. She took his face between her hands and he jumped. Not _jump_ jumped, but was startled, you know. "Stay still." He did.

She inspected his eyes, and he stared back at her, looking completely helpless and doomed. Out of nowhere, but possibly from the beautiful hazel depths, she had a thought. A rather disturbing thought. Lily had finally recognized; she knew those eyes.

She jumped back—literally jumped, this time. "Have you—eaten breakfast yet, this morning?"

There was only one word for the expression on the stag's face—defeated.

Lily had no earthly idea why she was not more surprised. Whether it be a question of his intelligence (he certainly got good marks in transfiguration), that she had shown her deepest secret to him, or the fact that she had been willingly seeing him alone and had just held his face in an almost intimate manner, she was actually relieved. Lily smiled—no, _grinned_. Quite evilly, in fact.

"Well, well, well. James Potter."

* * *

A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! I'm just as eager as you all to get the next chapter up, don't worry, it will be very soon!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I refuse to repeat what I have repeated again, repetitively.

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Short chapter, but you will possibly get a lot out of it. Plus it has a pleasant cut-off point. READ ON, FAITHFUL READERS, READ ON!!

* * *

**Chapter 10  
**

* * *

He turned to run.

"I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave? Come talk to me. Er—please?"

He stopped. He sulked. He looked at her. Then he nodded.

As he walked back over to her, the stag changed into the ever-so-familiar James Potter. The enormous antlers seemingly shrunk into his jet-black head, his spine changed from horizontal to vertical, and the rest of the graceful body became human; the only thing that didn't change was the eyes.

When he stopped in front of her, Lily realized something. The more she thought about it, the more he really did resemble a stag. As ashamed as she was of thinking that "whoever this was must be bloody gorgeous as a human", it was true. The blatant obnoxiousness must've made it slip her mind.

* * *

James was doomed. She knew. How could he have let her know? YARGH.

And yet, she was looking at him as if through a new light. He decided he liked new lights.

When she met his eyes, she paused. "When?"

It was now that James realized the complete crap-ness of this situation. It was near impossible for her to know this now without finding out about Sirius, Peter, and ultimately, Remus. He couldn't tell her without consulting the Marauders. Until then, vague would work.

"Third year. You?"

"Second year. Read about it and thought it would be amazing to be one, so I did it." At second thought, she added, "None of my friends know, though."

James was surprised. "You were twelve, and you didn't have help?"

"Well—no. What, did you?"

"Er . . ."

"Look, if this is about Remus, I already know. We were both prefects together, and I happened to put two and two together with his symptoms. You're not exactly telling me anything I don't know."

Now James was really surprised. Damn, that girl was smart; but that was one of the many reasons he stal—er, _followed_ her. "But how did you relate this to his . . . um . . . situation?"

"Well, it makes sense. Werewolves only hurt humans when they transform. Wait—so you did this all for him?"

She had a half-disbelieving, half-admiring look on her face. "Well . . . yeah." Might as well. He looked at the ground.

"Perhaps you aren't a heartless bastard . . . hmm . . ."

When he looked up at her in shock, she had a grin to rival Sirius' when he thought of a new prank. "Watch it, Evans. You'll pay for that."

He made to chase her and possibly tackle her and land in an altogether pleasant heap, but before he could, she had transformed while still wearing the grin and scampered off into the woods. Laughing to himself, and thanking every one of Merlin's garments and undergarments that this had gone well without him giving up too much information, he transformed and took off after her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** a statement, document, or assertion that disclaims responsibility, affiliation, etc.; disavowal; denial.

* * *

This chapter is:

a) going to be much longer than the last chapter!

b) going to be from a different point of view, just for a little bit. Not the whole chapter. Say, third person omniscient? I never really memorized the names of those things . . . .

* * *

**Chapter 11  
**

As the glorious tones of autumn gave way to snow-covered grounds and biting winds, the relationship between James Potter and Lily Evans was becoming somewhat more suspicious to all capable of eyesight.

Since the discovery of each other's secret, they had met every so often to simply run around in the Forest and let off steam. Whenever McGonagall's stress was channeled into their homework load, one would make a quick stop next to the other at breakfast, whisper a message into the other's ear, and be off. Even though she would never let anyone know, Lily found herself looking forward to these impromptu get-togethers.

They didn't consider themselves friends, really, but altogether they had no idea how to sum up their relation to the other. It was just something awkward that was not discussed. One particular conversation led to Lily's discovery of two other Animagi, and an explanation of how they joined together to help Remus. It had been concluded that it was best to let said person in on the happenings, and so they did. Remus, already being friends with Lily, took it surprisingly well.

Rest assured, James still took every opportunity to "subtly hint" at his undying love for Lily; but by the time Lily had lost count of the number of times he had asked her out, she found that she really would miss it if he stopped. Scarily enough for her, she also found that her previous attraction to him of zero had, without her consent, begun to grow.

* * *

"It's like I've been telling you forever, mate," James said, slinging an arm around the shoulders of a grumpy Sirius. "She'll give in eventually. And when she does, _you_, my friend, will have to cough up quite a lot of galleons. If I recall, it was an even 50?"

Sirius looked up from glaring at his Potions homework, only to shoot an equally disapproving glare at the arm confining him. "Just because of some bet I made in fourth year . . . Wait, how do _you, my friend_, know for certain that she will 'give in'?"

James released his grouchy pal and gave him a shocked look. "She can't evade my charms combined with _this_—" He stood up from the bed and took up his most impressive pose. "—forever. I mean, I have to admit that I am quite impressed she's held up this long."

From his bed, Peter gave a snort of hilarity and compressed laughter. James glared at him.

"Laugh all you want, Wormtail, but pretty soon you will all owe me buttloads of gold from your remarks over the years."

Sirius paused momentarily in his scribbling. "Yeah, but that was when we'd assumed she still had her sanity about her."

"Lily _is_ sane, Sirius," Moony said from his four-poster, stretching out his legs and yawning. "James' pestering is just slowly eroding it."

"I knew my persistence would pay off some day!"

"Yes, James, but if you want a sane girlfriend then you might want to try not being idiotic so often. She wants someone who won't stalk her, anyhow," Remus remarked. He promptly received three gaping heads turned towards him.

James was the first to speak. "How do you know what she wants?"

"Hey, you know, all of a sudden I'm really tired, and there's that Charms test tomorrow . . ." Remus hurriedly turned over and covered his head with his pillow.

"Oh no, you don't. You are going to tell us right now." James marched over to Moony's bed, Padfoot and Wormtail in tow, and bodily dragged Remus from its squishy depths. Once they had him in an upright position and at James' wand point, the poor boy realized the enormity of his actions.

James led the interrogation. "I demand you tell us how, when, and why you know of such things."

Remus decided it would be best to cooperate. "Well, I really said I wouldn't—Oh, fine. Whenever we were on patrol for Prefect duty we got bored so we talked. Sometimes the topic would land on you—" he gestured to James, "—and she just said she did not particularly enjoy the stalking bit." Remus gave a weak, defeated smile.

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "There's more."

Remus whimpered. James nodded for him to continue or face the consequences, which were most likely very unpleasant.

"Okay, fine, there's more. But she said them in confidence, and I don't think I should—"

All three narrowed their eyes to near slits.

"Oh, all right. As for how, it's like I said. We talked. As for when, just since fifth year when we started being prefects—"

"FIFTH YEAR?" James interrupted. "You knew these things that could have eased my greatly distressed heart's sufferings since fifth year and you said _nothing_?"

Remus gulped and grimaced. "Er—yes?"

James hurled himself onto the closest bed and gave a growl of frustration. He closed his eyes and sighed, then said impatiently, "Continue."

"Well, she said she hated that you always asked her out in front of everyone and wouldn't leave her be. And recently she's told me that—"

James interrupted again, shooting upright instantly. "_RECENTLY?_"

Remus cowered and attempted to shrink back into his pillows. "Recently she's told me that . . . . um, you guys, I really don't know if I can—"

Three glares.

"Okay. She said that James is not quite so arrogant anymore . . . and that she's found that some of the annoying things are actually just from his slight insanity and are really quite humorous. She's actually started talking of you in a rather—er—_fond_ manner."

James' face became gleeful and he punched the air. "YES! I knew they were excuses!"

Sirius groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I regret my confidences in her sanity so many years ago."

Remus looked guilty and Peter looked shocked and was twitching a little bit. James was doing a victory dance, which would have led Lily to question what she saw in him if she had seen. Luckily, she didn't.

* * *

"It's like I've been telling you all along," Alice said, not taking her eyes off a pamphlet on Auror employment. "You'll give in eventually. He _is_ rather good-looking. I'm actually kind of impressed that you haven't crumbled yet."

Lily gave a half-hearted glare from her bed, then shrugged. "So what if he's good-looking."

"AHA! You admit it!"

"Yes Mary, I admit it. But all these years of sustaining a steady flow of hate, I don't know if I'm quite ready to give it up . . ."

The other two girls stared at her.

"What, do you recognize sarcasm when you see it?"

"I didn't know you could see sarcasm. I always thought it was more of a _hearing_—" Mary was cut off by a pillow hitting her upside the head.

"You know what I mean!"

"Oh yes, Lily; All the years of denial, of masking your _passionate_ attraction with rude remarks, of—"

Alice too was cut off by a pillow colliding with her head.

"You two talk all you want, but I am going to talk to some normal people," Lily said, sitting up and making for the dormitory door.

"Where are you going to find normal people at eleven at night? They're all asleep. You'll just have to deal with us crazy folks," Alice said with a sly grin. Mary nodded her agreement.

Lily sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll converse with you _crazy folks_, but I really do need to go down to the common room. I left my quill down there. Be back in a minute."

* * *

A/N: R&R! I'm really enjoying this now. Mwahaha!


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter, or Hawaii, or the twelfth dimension. But oh, how I wish I did.

Guess what: I finally have a dedication! This chapter is dedicated to **shetlandlace** for the lovely reviews! Thank you so much! All you peeps should follow their example . . . and if you don't, shame shame . . . the leprechauns will find you.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

While James was doing his victory dance, he stopped suddenly and his left nostril twitched. "Sudden urge to visit common room."

Sirius looked up. "Sixth sense?"

James nodded vigorously and scrambled towards the door, tripped over Peter, got up, and left the room.

Peter, rubbing his backside, was very confused. "What?"

"Evans," Sirius mumbled, slowly shaking his head in shame as he desperately scavenged his Potions textbook.

Peter blinked. "Oh."

Remus strolled over and patted Peter fondly on the head. "It's okay, none of us understand it either. He's just deranged."

* * *

Lily had only just reached the bottom of the staircase leading down from the girl's dormitories when a crazed-looking James Potter stumbled down the opposite staircase from the boy's dormitories. As he reached the bottom, he straightened himself, looked around at her, and grinned; curse his sixth sense.

"Well, well, Potter. I wonder what brings you down to the common room at almost midnight, at the precise moment that I just happen to be down here." Lily's voice dripped sarcasm, but she couldn't help but smile.

"I cannot stay away from you for long or I lose my mind, dearest Lily. And also my three closest friends have turned against me and keep telling me I am not sane."

"I might have to agree with them there."

"What is this? The love of my life has turned too?" His look of mock-distress was too much. Lily allowed herself a laugh before she commented.

"Well my friends have become unhinged too. They keep talking about how you—"

Lily stopped, unable to continue. She then blushed and looked at the floor.

James smiled wider and crossed the room to where she stood. "Tell me, Fair Maiden, what have your lady friends been saying of me?"

Lily looked up at him, only to see his adorable lop-sided grin and ruffled black hair. _Curse you, brain, you have turned on me in my time of need!_

James sensed that she would not, or _could_ not answer, so he took the liberty to do so himself. "Ah, your lady friends are jealous of my undying love . . ." He put an arm around her shoulder and gestured in front of them both with his free hand, as if showing her a vast landscape of possibility. "But do not fear, my affections remain untainted. All things are possible with my hilarious wit and humor, which are not in fact annoying but merely a—what is it, result of my slight insanity?"

Lily gaped, looked up at him, realized their very close proximity, blushed again, and looked back at the floor. "He told you?"

James seemed pleased that she was not ripping him to shreds. "Do not blame poor Moony, he was outnumbered and held at wand point. But once again, do not fear; he only told of how I am not as arrogant as I once was in my naïve years, and how you now speak of me in a rather fond manner." He nodded the last part.

"Git." It was an affectionate statement, rest assured.

"So is there a specific reason you are paying a visit to the noble Common Room of Gryffindor at this late hour, or did you simply wish to encounter my irresistible charms before morning?"

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "Forgot my quill," she said, then (rather reluctantly, though she would not admit it) tugged herself free of his grip and picked up said quill. Before she had made it half-way back to the girl's staircase, she was enveloped in an altogether comfy and pleasant hug, courtesy of James Potter himself. "Goodnight, my sweet Lilypad," he said with his signature grin that let you know he was up to no good. Before she knew what was happening, he had leaned down and planted a kiss on her cheek, then strode back quickly to his own staircase. As she stood there very shocked, he threw her that damned cute grin and disappeared up the steps.

She made the way up to her own dormitory, and didn't realize she was smiling until it was so graciously pointed out to her by Alice.

"My, you look flustered. And why are you smiling?"

Lily immediately wiped the smile off her face, but then remembered what happened, and smiled again. Those damned smart _lady friends_ of hers had it figured out before she reached her four-poster.

"Ah, so you met the lovely Potter in the common room?"

Lily had no choice but to tell them. "He—kissed my cheek."

Mary gasped. "Lily! You have fallen for his charms!"

"Pay up, Mary!"

"You guys, I didn't give consent!"

Alice winced as two galleons hit her knee. "I doubt he needed verbal consent. You are quite obviously not opposed—"

They could still hear her muffled laughter from behind the pillow unceremoniously chucked at her head.

* * *

A/N: Now, my faithful readers, I require REVIEWS before I post the next chapter! Well, it will probably be written anyways, but no posting until you people let me know what you think. I need FEEDBACK! FEEEEEDBAAAACK! It is quite essential.

* * *


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** Me no own-o el Harry Potter-o.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

James Potter was very proud of himself. Not only had he successfully administered a kiss to the cheek of Lily Evans, but he was pretty sure she did not hate him entirely. Oh, how he reveled in the slight insanity he possessed.

Once back in the confines of the Marauder's dormitory, he told his tale of valor, with dignity.

"OH MY GOD I JUST KISSED LILY EVANS ON THE CHEEK AND SHE DIDN'T KILL ME!"

The next morning he woke to his recently-attained pile of gold, and was blissfully reminded of his glorious feat that he had once assumed impossible. He sighed in recognition of his own amazing-ness.

"I sigh in recognition of my own amazing-ness."

"Oh is that what you're doing? I thought you were repeatedly breathing heavily due to lack of air," Sirius commented lightly from the bed next to him.

"That makes no sense. There is lots of air around here. In fact it's like an All-You-Can-Breathe Buffet."

"You never know. You could have been spontaneously strangled by an enraged comrade whose gold you hijacked."

"Ah, someone is a sore loser. I rightfully earned this here gol—"

The rest of that sentence was muffled by a well-aimed pillow and there really was a lack of air.

For the rest of the day, whenever he met Lily's eyes, she immediately blushed and was unable to hold back a smile. He soon found that with these smiles came glares of complete loathing from none other than Snivelly Severus Snivel-pants or whatever his name was. He simply countered the glares with a smirk of all-knowing omniscience-ness and triumph. Then he would receive an even more hate-filled glare. Then he sent back another smirk. Glare. Smirk. Glare. It went on for quite a while. James found this activity amusing and decided to make it a hobby.

* * *

Lily was unable to keep herself from smiling that day whenever she met James' eyes. She also noticed some rather strange things going on between him and Snape, but it was sort of amusing.

The day passed quickly, almost as if the clocks knew Lily was nervous about the weekend and another opportunity to be alone with James. By now, she had fully admitted to herself that yes, James was really not completely arrogant, and also, he was completely sexy. _Curse you, brain, curse you!_

Her eyes kept being drawn to whatever area of his body was available for viewing; his arms, his neck, his chest, and she even found that his face was rather handsome. Curses.

As expected, the moment she stood up from the table at dinner, James abandoned his food and picked up her bag for her. Before she could object, he said simply and charmingly, "May I accompany you to wherever you may be going?"

She blushed, gave up on trying to hold back a smile, and nodded. He then placed one of those strong yet gentle arms around her shoulder, hiked up her bag on his other arm, and led her out of the Great Hall with many eyes following them.

"So, where exactly _are_ you going?"

Lily shrugged. "No where specific. I don't actually have anything I have to do right now." As soon as this left her mouth, she realized the unintended implications she had just said. He grinned at her and she blushed. Again.

"Fancy a stroll through the Forest?"

That was actually a pretty good idea, and she was very glad the Forest was not a broom cupboard. "All right."

The Forbidden Forest looked like it had had a blanket of snow and ice dropped on it, and when they reached a safe distance within where they would be hidden, he placed her bag by a distinctly-decrepit tree and turned back to face her. Stupid grin. Why was she so nervous around him now? Curse those muscles and that sexy hair!

To save herself from blushing again, she transformed.

"You know, haven't you ever thought about how strange it is that you're a doe and I'm a stag? Coincidence, eh?" His breath was visible in the air and he flashed her _the_ grin before transforming too.

Her mind was still reeling from his statement. Sure, she had thought about their forms, but she hadn't realized just how _coincidental_ it was that they happened to both be deer. It was almost as if—

Before she could finish that thought, he galloped his muscley deer butt off into the Forest. Thankful for an escape from her very confused mind, she followed.

* * *

Twenty minutes of energy-expending frolicking later, they stopped in a small clearing that was shaded by the thick canopy above and had only a light dusting of white. The lingering light from the sun was only just beginning to fade and it was inevitable that they would have to go inside soon.

After they had both caught their breath, he turned to look at her. She met his gaze felt an unexpected flutter in her heart. While she silently berated herself for not knowing what to do now, he took a few steps toward her and leaned his head down to be level with hers. He smiled as best a stag can and nuzzled her. That was the best term she could think of to describe it; it reminded her of when cats greeted a companion they were fond of, and she subconsciously leaned into the gesture. Her face was safely tucked into his neck and she felt an overwhelming wave of happiness pass through her.

Pink pierced the horizon, and she reluctantly pulled back to look into his eyes. They needed to leave the Forest soon or they wouldn't be able to see to get out. He was still smiling, and she was pretty sure she was too. Together they hurried back to collect her bag and returned to their human forms.

Once out of the Forest and back in the Castle, they began the long trek up to Gryffindor Tower. They had only reached the third floor when a more-than-normally-stressed Professor McGonagall spotted them from the end of the corridor and rushed in their direction.

"Goodness, Miss Evans, I have been searching for you for the past half hour! You are needed in the Headmaster's office immediately—it is urgent. The password is _Acid Pop_. Good day."

She finished with a polite nod of acknowledgement to James and hurried off back the way she came.

"You're not in trouble are you?" James asked when they had reached the stone gargoyle, curious at the possibility of Lily Evans, Head Girl, committing a crime worthy of a visit to Dumbledore's office (despite that he was Head Boy and got away with such things often).

Lily shook her head. "No, I don't think I'm in trouble. I'll see you in a little bit."

"All right. See you soon, my dearest Lily," he winked, gave her a peck on the cheek and rounded the corner back to Gryffindor Tower. Lily hope the cheek-kissing thing became customary—or more . . ._ Shut up, brain!_

She repeated the password to the gargoyle and ascended the stairs. Lily knocked, heard an "Enter" and did so.

This was not the first time she had been in the Headmaster's office; she had been in on numerous occasions to receive Head Girl duties. Fawkes blinked at her as she walked by and she sat when instructed to by Professor Dumbledore.

"Miss Evans, I am very sorry to have to give you this news. Your sister refused to owl you herself, so I am going to tell you. Your parents, as you may know, were on a trip to Scotland this week; on the way back, they had an unfortunate fatal accident. Neither of them survived, I am very sorry to say. You will be given as much time off as you feel necessary, including their funeral this Sunday."

Lily was in shock. She sat there for several moments and didn't care that she looked foolish in front of the Headmaster. _Her parents._ How? Admittedly, she had never been very close with them, but her mother had always been there when she scraped her knee and her father had always been the one to make a joke when things got too serious. This couldn't be happening. No.

Professor Dumbledore looked at her with an almost shared pain and she slowly came out of her reverie. It was then that she realized she could not go back. She couldn't face it. This world was where she belonged.

"I don't want to go to the funeral. I'll just—just—stay here," she finished, blinking back tears that were suddenly determined to break through.

"As you wish, Miss Evans."

She stood up and left quickly, barely remembering her bag. She couldn't go back to the Common Room, or the dormitory, or anywhere near anyone.

She barely heard the Main Doors of the Castle shut behind her as she descended the steps to the grounds. Snow had just started to fall, leaving a light layer on top of the previous layer and catching in her hair and robes. The moon's light reflected off the white of the snow and she found her way to the edge of the lake. Her bag fell somewhere along the way and Lily's body didn't care that it was the coldest day yet of winter. She sunk to the snow-coated ground, exhausted, and the tears fell freely.

* * *

A/N: What can I say? Random bit of depressing-ness.

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I just type this out of habit now. If I was JK Rowling, you might have figured it out.

* * *

Note: The basic situation and words of the last couple paragraphs was not from my brain, but in fact from the Snape/Hermione fanfiction called "Requiem for a Dream" by Lizard23. I greatly recommend reading it. :D

* * *

**Chapter 14  
**

When James had escaped the determined clutches of his fanclub in the Gryffindor Common Room, he entered the Marauder's dormitory to witness a strange scene. Sirius was holding an open Marauder's Map above the frustrated heads of Moony and Wormtail. The latter two were nearly as determined as James' fanclub and Sirius was using his height advantage to its full extent. Remus could nearly reach the Map, but Peter's attempts were useless as his fingertips barely reached Padfoot's raised elbow. Despite Sirius' advantage, the two were slowly backing him onto a bed where he would doubtlessly be forced to surrender or make a daring escape.

"Prongs! They are using unnecessary force to claim the Noble Map!" Sirius said in desperation, backing up closer to the bed as Remus made a particularly high jump.

"He—is—taking advantage! Of—height!" panted Remus in between leaps.

"I know I may be alone in the thought that this is not normal, but is there a reason you three are fighting for possession of the Map?"

At his comment, they all paused and turned to look at him, except for Peter who was still making fruitless attempts at reaching Sirius' raised wrist.

James used this momentary lapse in idiocy to grab said Map and flung himself on his four-poster with three angered Marauders in tow.

"Now," James said, holding the Map out of reach of any still-determined resistors, "What is so suddenly important that you must all view this Map?"

Sirius spoke first. "I was using it to track the migrations of a group of sixth year Ravenclaw girls for my own benefit, and I noticed you and Evans entering the castle and McGonagall finding you and then the both of you heading to Dumbledore's office and by then, _these_ two—" He gestured to Remus and Peter, "—had noticed my unusual interest in the Map and demanded to see it."

Remus scowled. Peter was still panting from so much exercise.

Sirius continued. "Now that you are here to explain your actions, I demand to know what is going on and why Evans went to Dumbledore's office. I've ruled out Head Boy and Head Girl duties, because then it would've been the both of you. Now cough it up."

James raised an eyebrow at the seemingly insane group of seventeen-year-olds. "So you were all three putting up a fight of this caliber simply to watch where Lily and I were going?"

They all nodded vigorously.

"Fine. If you must know, Ol' McG stopped us on the way to the Common Room and said Lily was needed in the Headmaster's office, so I accompanied the Fair Maiden on her journey and then returned here."

They all blinked at him. Then Sirius spoke up. "So then why is Evans out by the lake?"

"What?" James held the Map up to his face and searched for the Lake. When he spotted it, the dot labeled _Lily Evans_ was close to the shore, not moving. "What the hell is she doing out _there _this late?"

"_That's_ what we were going to ask _you_!" said Remus, rolling his eyes.

Before they could get an answer out of him, or he an answer out of them, James ran out of the dormitory so quickly that by the time the door slammed shut, their hair was still being lifted by the current of air. Moony quickly tackled Padfoot.

James was running so fast that even his fanclub of squealing third year girls (and a couple boys) couldn't stop him on his way out of the Common Room. He scrambled out of the Portrait Hole and down the flights of steps. He passed a conveniently-located group of Slytherins in the Entrance Hall and a first year on the edges of the group was knocked sideways by his sudden appearance, then disappearance out the Doors. He descended the front steps and tore his way towards the Lake through the freezing wind and snowfall.

* * *

Lily was numb. She couldn't feel her shaking limbs and didn't care that a majority of her was either blue or raw from the ice. Tear tracks stood frozen on her unfeeling cheeks and she was chilled to the bone with cold. She was huddled in a pathetic heap in the darkness at the edge of the Lake, and she didn't care what happened to her. _Let me freeze_, she thought, _just let me freeze_ . . .

And then she was lifted up in warm, strong, and gentle arms, and she no longer wanted to waste away. The arms cradled her and tucked her close in to an equally warm body that made her forget her worries, and she leaned in to the touch. Here in the comfort of another, she didn't know and didn't care who it was, and the tears and sobs came forth and racked her body with grief. Lily didn't know how long she stayed like this, but by the time her body was too exhausted to sob anymore, she looked up into the face of her comforter and was not surprised to see the worried features of James Potter. She knew she ought to explain herself, but words wouldn't come.

"Let's get you inside."

His voice was sincere, and gentle as the rest of him. She nodded and he picked her up from the ground in his wonderful arms and carried her back up to the Castle. She buried her face in his warm scarf and robes and placed a shaking hand on his chest. She didn't know how or why he knew where she had been, but it was worth it to be here being taken care of by him.

Lily heard people whispering in the Entrance Hall as they whipped by, but she was too half-grief-stricken, half-content to care. He ascended the steps and made the long journey up to the Marauder's dormitory in Gryffindor Tower and deposited her on his bed. He hastily removed her shoes, socks, and outer robes, then cast a warming spell and tucked soft sheets up to her chin. She could feel a heavy, warm blanket being lain on top of the sheets and hear James shooing the other three Marauders out of the room. She silently thanked the heavens that he had saved her.

He came back to her side and brushed her hair from her face. Lily whispered, "Thank you."

James look confused and his hazel eyes met her green ones.

"You came for me," she said, then sleep's calling became too much to resist and her eyes fluttered closed. Lily's consciousness faded away with a smile on her face.

James watched as Lily's breathing became heavy and even, and her features were even more beautiful in the tranquility of sleep. He was still moving her hair back with his fingers as he whispered, "I will always come for you."

* * *

A/N: I had my last exam today for the semester, so I have a vast expanse of free time with which to waste away in front of a keyboard. Expect a new chapter soon!

* * *


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: ** I, not being JK Rowling, don't have the authorization to overrule cannon and insert book number 6.5 called Harry Potter and The Adventures in Yaoi.

* * *

**Chapter 15  
**

When Lily awoke, she felt distinctly comfortable. It took her several moments of prolonged relaxation to realize that she was not, in fact, in her own dormitory. It took her several more moments to realize that the out of sync snores she was hearing did not sound in the least bit female. At the second this thought entered her mind, the lids drooping over her rested eyes shocked themselves open, but what was in front of her was enough to shock her again. James was slouched on a stool by the bed she occupied and staring intently down at her; her surprise was not enough to release her from the weight of the thick blanket she was wrapped in. As her face displayed the conflicting confusion and bewilderment racking her brain, James' worried features rearranged themselves into a bright smile. Lily really had no clue what to make of this, so instead of continuing her futile struggling, she simply relaxed into the sheets with a huff and couldn't help but smile too.

"Are you okay?"

"Wha—" Lily's already perplexed thoughts were dealt another very big stack of sorting. There must, of course, be a reason she was in the seventh year boys' dormitory instead of her own. Her face slowly fell as she remembered.

At the sudden change of mood, James' worried look resumed position. "Do you want to tell me why you nearly froze yourself to death last night?"

His tone was gentle, but she could sense the concern laced within the words. She gulped. "My–parents . . ."

She paused uncertainly to collect herself, then her voice came in a hoarse whisper. "_Dead_."

A tear found its way onto her cheek and he pulled her into a consoling hug while softly stroking her hair. She drew back reluctantly after a moment and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Giving a final sniff, she looked back up at him with a sad smile. His brow furrowed with concern, then he grasped her hand. "Would you like to get some food? You slept right through breakfast and lunch."

Lily's eyes widened. "What time is it?"

"Only one. I assume you were really tired."

She was not accustomed to this. "But I never sleep in. I mean, _never_," she emphasized.

He grinned. "Well, there's a first time for everything. Come on, you must be hungry. You can borrow a bathrobe."

He picked up a worn yet comfy-looking burgundy bathrobe from the end of the bed and stood up. She realized he was still wearing his pajamas: a pair of blue- and white-striped flannel pajama bottoms with a white T-Shirt that just happened to draw Lily's eyes to the muscles they covered.

Feeling her face blushing, she removed herself from the confines of the warm blanket and slipped into the offered robe. He stooped to extract something from underneath the bed and Lily wrapped the robe more snugly around her; hoping he wouldn't notice, she silently inhaled the scent emanating from the bathrobe, and the smell of pine and some indiscernible spice that was always so vague in the air around him overwhelmed her nose. James' head reappeared from scavenging the depths beneath his bed, and in his hands were a pair of equally-worn yet equally-comfy-looking green slippers which she allowed him to slip on her feet. He wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her to the door, making a short detour for him to nick Sirius' own pair of slippers.

As they passed through the Common Room, the assorted group of younger Gryffindors she knew to be James' fanclub gaped while they passed, and he laughed softly to himself. She blushed and allowed herself to be led out the Portrait Hole.

Once in the corridor, she voiced a question she'd been wondering about. "So . . . How did you know where I was?"

He looked down at her with a mischievous grin while they trudged along. "I do hope you're well-prepared for another Marauder's secret."

Lily sighed. There seemed to be an eternity of those.

He removed a folded piece of blank parchment from a pocket in his pajama pants and unfolded it. While she stared at it in confusion, he simply withdrew his wand from the same pocket, tapped the paper and whispered, "_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good._" She gaped as lines erupted on the page and spread like spider webs to fill the parchment. James' grin stayed intact.

"_This_, my dear Lily, is the Marauder's Map. Shows you all of Hogwarts, secret passageways, and best of all, where everyone is."

Still staring wide-eyed at the Map, she said, "Where did you find this?"

"Not _find_, we _made_ it. Got to have some way to navigate the school, you know?"

She shook her head to rid it of excess questions. "So you just happened to be looking at this map last night, and just happened to look out—outside?"

"Actually, Sirius was stalking that group of Ravenclaws that passed us right before we saw McGonagall, and he followed where we went. Turned into an out-right tug-of-war over this piece of parchment between the three of them. Luckily I grabbed it while they were distracted and they told me why they wanted so desperately to look at it because apparently you were out by the Lake. Well, it being rather late at the time, along with the _slight_ chill outside, it looked a bit suspicious. So I went and got you. Gave me quite a fright, I might add." He nodded the last sentence.

While they descended a staircase, another question popped into Lily's mind. "Where exactly do you plan to get food at one in the afternoon?"

He grinned again, and winked. "You'll see."

They reached the Entrance Hall, but James led them to a passage down near the Hufflepuff Common Room. He stopped in front of a portrait of assembled fruits and _tickled_ (did he really just tickle a portrait?) the pear on the left side. To Lily's surprise, a door knob appeared and he grasped it to open the painting wide like a door. He pulled her inside and the sight that met her eyes was incredible.

House elves of all ages scurried around the giant room that was nearly the size of the Great Hall. Four identical tables to the ones that must be up above this room were set exactly as the ones in the Great Hall, and the house elves bustled around them, laying out platters and trays full of all varieties of food. James smiled in delight as a particularly excited-looking house elf came to stand in front of them.

"Does Mr. Potter be wanting something to eat, sir?"

James gestured to Lily. "This lady needs sustenance," he leaned closer to the elf and said in play-concern, "Hasn't eaten all day."

The elf's eyes widened and he nodded vigorously before looking up at Lily. "Come this way, ma'am, and sit here." He rushed to the end of one of the tables, and James followed, Lily in tow. "You just sit here, ma'am, and we'll be having you some food right out, ma'am." With that he scurried off to another room.

Lily smiled at the sight of all the house elves and the room, James laughing beside her. "You didn't know there were house elves in Hogwarts, did you?"

Lily shook her head and continued to stare in amazement.

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A/N: New chapter out soon, I promise! Let me know where you think the story should go or if you have any suggestions, please! If the story starts to get boring or annoying and no one tells me, there's nothing I can do about it! Thank you for reading :)

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	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** I don't own it blah blah blah . . .

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A/N: This is a short chapter, but I figure you might want an update since it's been about a week. Part 17 will be up soon.

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**Chapter 16**

The weeks seemed to fly by in a whirl of white as November disappeared, only to be replaced with a harsher December that brought gales of icy wind and longer snow-dumps.

Lily watched with longing as her friends were ushered out of the Castle for the holidays. This would be the first time that she really didn't have anywhere to go besides Hogwarts. It bothered her to think of her orphaned sister living with friends, but Lily found she preferred not having to face the bitter girl that had grown to despise her.

After waving goodbye as her friends and hordes of other students disappeared out the door, Lily turned and retreated up the Marble Staircase. Exploring the Castle in its lonely state was very appealing to her, and she spent the morning discovering rooms that she never knew existed. Countless flights of steps and one run-in with a talking suit of armor later, Lily returned to the Gryffindor Common Room in a state of neutrality.

The one person she would've thought to have a perfectly fine place to go for the holidays was James Potter, who was exactly the person she found upon entering the Common Room. Well, along with Remus and Black.

"What are you all doing here? I thought you usually went home during the holidays," Lily asked.

James looked up from watching the Chess match with glee written all over his face. "Hey! Well, we usually _do_, but seeing as this is our last year here, we decided to stay and have a bit of fun," he said, patting the spot next to him on the couch as invitation for her to sit.

Lily took the invitation gladly. "So who's winning?"

Sirius kept his eyes glued to the board with determination. "Moony. Must—defeat—"

Lily laughed and turned to James. "I do hope you're not planning any 'Last-Year' Marauder Pranks or anything."

"Actually—" James started, then stopped when he realized he was about to admit his top-secret ingenious plans to the Head Girl.

Lily raised an eyebrow, in a flirty fashion, he noted. James felt a warm, tingly sensation in his stomach at the action, and became aware of the blush creeping up his face. More to distract her from intruding further into his secrety-type plans than from any amount of brain processes, he reached for her hand and held it. Her head, which had been in the process of turning back to look at the Chess board, snapped up immediately at the gesture and instead turned back to him. James had taken this second to lean down the smallest fraction, and she took notice of the closeness. Her eyes widened only slightly and she flushed, but did not turn away. James could feel her warm breath on him, observe each freckle on her face, see every detail in those gorgeous emerald eyes—

"Checkmate!"

They both reacted as if shocked and snapped their attention back to the Chess game. Sirius was pouting and Remus had an only slightly smug smile on his face as he pulled a book from his robes, kicked back, and began to read.

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	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** You should know this.

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A/N: Yo. Yeah, the whole "Marauder, Final Year Prank, tampering with Mistletoe" thing is a bit on the cliché side. But stay with me, it might turn out a bit different than you think. And if you don't support Remus/Sirius, just stick it out. It's just something I threw in to . . . er, _enhance_ the story. lol. I really don't have a reason.

Also, I edited the sentence in Chapter 16 out where James said that Peter went home, because it might be a bit weird for him to be at the Castle when he's supposed to be at home . . . . yeah.

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**Chapter 17**

"This," Sirius said, bouncing on his four-poster with wide eyes and an aura of ultimate glee, "Is going to be the best, I repeat, _the best_, prank EVER."

James grinned and held a sprig of mistletoe up at eye-height to inspect. "Indeed."

Peter, as per usual, was confused. "Wait, so what exactly are we planning?"

Remus rolled his eyes and flipped a page in his book. "_They_ are planning a prank that should not even be thought about by someone who claims to be Head Boy. Although, since I am both not Head Boy _and_ this is our last year here at Hogwarts, I will be—" He shuddered, "—participating."

"Allow me to explain what dear Moony has left out," intruded Sirius, landing from a high jump on the mattress with a creak. He held up a pointer finger and said, as though this were the most ingenious thing in the world, "We shall be, er, _tampering_ with the mistletoe around the Castle."

"_Tampering_," Remus muttered, shaking his head.

Sirius smiled charmingly at Moony and then proceeded to migrate over to him and place his arm securely around the bookworm. "You will find that this prank will have some added benefits."

Moony blushed and turned back to his book. Sirius did not remove his arm.

"Indeed," repeated James, still eyeing the mistletoe that was less than a centimeter from his eye.

Peter was staring at Prongs as if his savior had gone insane (which he very possibly might've), so Padfoot said, "Ignore him, Wormtail, he's just plotting ways to trick Evans under some."

Wormtail sighed, knowing at least this was in some degree a normalcy. "How do you mean, tampering?"

Sirius seemed to have been waiting to unleash this upon them all. "Just a bit of a charm is all. Then, whenever you get stuck under it, let's say, you'll have some trouble getting away if there's no one around to kiss." He nodded, smiling brightly. Remus again shook his head to himself and smiled into his book.

"It's amazing," James spoke slowly, still transfixed with the mistletoe, "how a tiny sprig of plant can change your life."

They all rolled their eyes at this.

* * *

Lily was pacing her dorm. She knew the Marauders were planning something that would make the little number of people who'd stayed at the Castle's life hell. It was Christmas morning and she had a very strong sense that they had already unleashed the prank upon the school, and that she would be completely doomed if she went down to breakfast. Still, she'd have to leave at some point.

She stopped in front of the dormitory door, took a deep breath, and opened it. When she was not attacked, burned, seized, set on fire, splattered with an unknown substance, or impaled on a shish kabob after a few seconds, Lily let out an audible sigh. That was, until a full-grown, grinning stag popped into the doorframe.

"What the hell!" Lily jumped back, then whispered urgently, "_James!_"

He grinned wider and transformed. "Relax, Lily, somehow we all got incredibly lucky and the only other Gryffindors that stayed were a couple First Years that stuck a red bauble on my nose," he laughed, then added, "And it's nice that we're finally on a first-name basis."

She flushed and realized her mistake. Then she realized another thing. "Wait a second! How did you get up here? Boys can't climb the stairs!"

James winked at her. "_Boys_ can't climb the stairs. No one ever said anything about giant, antlered beings."

She stared at him like the insane man he was.

"Come on Lily, I'm sure the First Years have gone to breakfast by now. Plus, it's about time you told the rest of the Marauders about your form."

Lily blinked and then understood. She smiled flirtily at him just to throw him off guard, which it did, and then transformed and skipped past his still-gaping figure in the doorway. After a couple seconds of her waiting amused beside him, he shut his mouth and transformed too.

Upon the sight of a stag and a doe standing side-by-side at the bottom of the girl's staircase, two of the three present human Marauders gaped, while Moony laughed. "Hey Lily," he said.

Sirius and Peter's jaws dropped further, if possible. "_What?_"

James and Lily transformed, and promptly began laughing. James choked out, "You should've seen your faces!"

Sirius scowled, but it was in good humor. After a second he said, "Since when've you been one, Evans?"

"Second year," James said proudly, forgetting and not caring that it proved she was smarter than the four of them combined. Lily smiled innocently beside him.

Peter's eye twitched. Remus headed for the Portrait Hole.

"Moony! We must verbally harass them at once! Get your arse back here!"

Remus just ignored Sirius, still smiling and laughing to himself, and left the Common Room with three Marauders and Lily hurrying to catch up.

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A/N: Okay, so another not-incredibly-long chapter, but I am suffering from two other obsessions at the moment, both in the insane realm of fanfiction. Neither will do me very much good in updating this story, so bear with me in this time of need. lol. I make no sense.


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